Left: Tyler Riddle (Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Erin Hume (KPNX/YouTube).
An Arizona mother told a court that her boyfriend stabbed her 22 times during an August 2025 attack, saying he had become “abusive over time” and showed her “absolutely no mercy to me that night,” prosecutors said.
“He may have thought that stabbing me 22 times would be the end of my story, instead I am standing here today, alive, speaking for myself, speaking for my children, and refusing to let what he did become the definition of who I am,” Erin Hume said in court.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office announced in a press release Tuesday that Tyler Riddle, 34, had been sentenced to 15 years in prison. He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated assault and two counts of child abuse.
Hume’s two children were inside the home when the stabbing occurred and were hurt while trying to defend their mother from Riddle. According to the attorney’s office, Hume’s 12-year-old son called 911 and told the dispatcher “that his mother was bleeding and that her boyfriend … was in their home.”
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“I would be dead if he didn’t call the police, like 100%,” Hume told local NBC affiliate KPNX. She said Riddle had been using drugs, including psychedelics, on the night of the attack.
Hume recalled that Riddle took an Uber to her home and that she knew he was on his way. “And I told him, ‘Hey, be quiet. My kids are going to sleep. You know, don’t cause any issues.’”
Mesa police officers found Hume “covered in blood” and suffering from numerous stab wounds, including a cut “across her throat,” the county attorney’s office said. Her children told investigators they had been “woken up by screaming” and saw Riddle punching their mother.
The children tried to intervene, but Riddle struck both of them in the face during the assault, according to the attorney’s office.
“Thanks to the bravery of her kids and the quick response by the Mesa police officers who arrived at the scene, this victim survived her attack and can find a measure of peace knowing this defendant has been held accountable,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said.
